Repsol’s Galicia green hydrogen plant secures up to €133.3 million in state aid
Spain’s IDAE has awarded Repsol up to €133.3 million for a 50 MW green hydrogen plant at its A Coruña industrial complex. The project is intended to replace fossil-based grey hydrogen used in refining and other internal operations.
State support for a 50 MW electrolyser
Repsol has secured up to €133.3 million in Spanish state aid for a planned green hydrogen plant at its industrial complex in A Coruña, Galicia. According to Faro de Vigo, the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving, known as IDAE, awarded the funding to Repsol Renewable and Circular Solutions for the Atlas Electrolyser Plant.
The project will be built around an electrolyser with 50 MW of capacity. Its hydrogen is intended to replace the grey hydrogen that Repsol currently produces from fossil fuels for petroleum refining and other internal activities at the site. This would reduce the complex’s direct dependence on fossil feedstocks for hydrogen, although the source material does not specify the expected reduction in emissions or the plant’s electricity supply arrangements.
The award does not provide a direct capital contribution toward construction. It forms part of Spain’s direct support programme for projects participating in the European Hydrogen Bank’s “auction-as-a-service” mechanism and selected by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency, or Cinea.
Support tied to ten years of production
The resolution covers up to 60,634 tonnes of eligible green hydrogen production over ten years. State support is set at €2.2 per kilogram. The total award is therefore linked to the project’s actual eligible output rather than being presented as an upfront construction subsidy.
Repsol now faces several development deadlines. From publication of the final award, the company has 24 months to obtain the plant’s integrated environmental authorisation. A final investment decision must be reached within 30 months, while the project is expected to enter operation within a total period of 60 months.
Those milestones leave key execution risks in place, including permitting, the investment decision and construction. The award nevertheless gives Repsol a defined operating subsidy for hydrogen that would have an immediate industrial consumer at the same A Coruña complex. That captive demand distinguishes the project from proposals that must first secure external buyers or build new distribution channels.
Repsol also receives support for Puertollano
A second Repsol proposal, Puertollano Hydrogen Networks, will receive €49.8 million in aid. That project involves a 12.27 MW plant and eligible production of 22,130 tonnes of green hydrogen over ten years. Together, the two awards extend Repsol’s supported hydrogen plans beyond Galicia, although Atlas is the larger project by capacity and funding.
Faro de Vigo reported that both Repsol projects became beneficiaries after Iberdrola withdrew its proposals. Iberdrola had submitted two bids worth a combined €388.7 million in Spain’s second hydrogen auction: the 80 MW Noon II project in Huelva and the 140 MW RFNBO Hydrogen for Derivates Production project, known as ODIN, developed with Magnon Green Energy for industrial uses and heavy transport. Iberdrola has also moved a planned methanol plant from Begonte in Lugo to Huelva to ensure its long-term viability, again working with Magnon and Ence. The decisions show that public funding is advancing selected projects, but location, industrial demand and commercial viability continue to determine which hydrogen investments move forward.
